5 FiveLetterWords

Five-letter words matching S_EL_

Green letters (right spot)
Yellow letters (wrong spots)

Add every position where a present letter cannot go. Use Must contain twice for two copies, or the Solver for full guess rows.

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Showing 22 matching words
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The top-ranked splitter is shown in the shortlist note below. Add a gray or yellow clue here to recalculate after the position changes.

Possible answers

SHELF SHELL SMELL SMELT SPELL SPELT SWELL

Shortlist note

How to play this shortlist

This pattern has 22 words in the Wordle guess list; 7 are possible answers. The calculator compared 14,786 Wordle guesses against those 7 answers. The possible-answer label is a guide, not a promise about what Wordle's editors will choose.

Previously used by Wordle: SHELF (March 25, 2025); SHELL (October 2, 2024); SMELL (March 12, 2026); SMELT (March 14, 2022); SPELL (November 8, 2022); SPELT (March 18, 2024); SWELL (November 9, 2024).

Top-ranked splitter AMPUL
Average remaining
1.29
Worst branch
2
Information
2.52 bits

It is a deliberate probe rather than a possible answer here: the point is to separate the remaining answers cleanly.

Hard Mode Use SHELL instead.

AMPUL does not fit this page's clues. SHELL keeps every clue shown here and leaves an average remainder of 2.14 (3 in its worst branch). Check any additional yellow-position clues in the full Solver.

Trap warning: S_ELL

SHELL, SMELL, SPELL, SWELL differ only in the second position. Trying them one at a time can use several turns; AMPUL tests the family more efficiently.

Compare two plays

Choose any two plays. The figures use the same 7 possible answers.

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Pattern guide

What fits S_EL_?

All 22 matching words are shown above. 7 are possible answers.

More about these matches

Useful letters still to test

T 27% P 23% K 23% M 14% D 14% H 9%

Words with five different letters

50% of the matches have no repeated letters.

SHELF SMELT SPELT SIELD SKELF

Common letter pairs

EL 25% LL 8% SP 5% PE 5% SK 5%

Vowels

No vowels: 0% · one: 73% · two: 27% · three or more: 0%

Common questions
How many five-letter words match S_EL_?
22 five-letter words match S_EL_ in this site's Wordle guess list. Of these, 7 are possible answers.
Which matching word has the highest feedback entropy?
Among all matching words, STELA has the highest feedback entropy at 5.42 bits against the possible answers.
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S_EE_ S_AL_ S_EA_ Refine in Finder →
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